"I feel that she's getting married to Evelyn because her mom wants her to," said Samantha Shepherd, who plays the young heiress in the Pickwick Players production.

Billy Crocker, played by Paul Dingus, is a determined young man. A chance meeting with Hope convinced him he had met his true love, and he hitches a ride aboard the S.S. American.

"He tried to win her over by acting relatively silly and taking on disguises," said Dingus, who described the musical as "a lot of smaller story lines converging into a big central comedic and strangely ironic conclusion."

The show features music and lyrics by Cole Porter. The original book was a collaborative effort by Guy Bolton and P.G. Wodehouse, then revised by the team of Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse.

The original idea for a musical set onboard an ocean liner has been attributed to producer Vinton Freedley, who was living on a boat, having left the United States to avoid his creditors. He selected the original writing team and the star, Ethel Merman (as Reno Sweeney).

Sweeney is an evangelist turned nightclub singer and an old friend of Billy's.

"She's kind of the glue that holds the whole thing together," Alex Speight, who plays Hope's mother, said of Sweeney. "She's really important to the storyline because you can't have 'Anything Goes' without Reno."

The musical opened on Broadway at the Alvin Theatre on Nov. 21, 1934 and was the fourth longest-running musical of the 1930s.

"It's just about a whole bunch of people who don't know each other very well," said Shepherd. "And they come together and have some crazy adventures."

Pickwick Players' production of the musical "Anything Goes"

When: July 13 through July 21.

Where: Davis Theatre I, Cole Theatre, 2000 W. Wadley Ave.

Reservations: Call Midland Community Theatre's box office, 570-4111.

Tickets: This is a MCT membership show. For non-members, individual tickets are $18 for adults and ages 18 and younger $12.